On the November 25th Airlines Confidential podcast former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza and journalist Seth Kaplan discussed delays in finally opening the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Requests for proposals to build this airport went out in 1997, and it was finally completed in 2020.
Keying off of a listener note, they talked about:
- Not listening to airlines: Lufthansa said from the start they had no intention of hubbing in Berlin, so why build an airport optimized as a connecting hub?
- Not building in flexibility: such as for airport retail or changing security needs
Credit, Muns, via Wikimedia Commons
And Baldanza talked about airports either being too expensive or on their way to being too expensive. That’s largely true when airports stray from their core mission as places you go to get somewhere. An airport should be easy to get to, it should be easy to get through, and should be designed for efficient takeoffs and landings in order to avoid delays.
To be sure you’re going to have high-end retail when there’s new construction or renovations, but that’s just to pay for the construction and renovations.
Passengers are the product, not the customerss, and that’s why airlines like Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare have removed people movers that help passengers get through the terminal quickly and easily. They also caused passengers to bypass shops along the way. Pricy retail means high rents to the airport, which generally take a percentage of sales off the top as well.
But I think Baldanza and Kaplan miss something more fundamental about mistakes made in turning the old East Berlin Schoenefeld airport into the new gateway for Berlin: that the project was just badly managed by the local government there.
After contracting disputes, the government walked away from private contracts to build the airport in 2003, and instead handed out 30-40 contracts to smaller companies and decided to oversee the project itself – which they lacked the expertise to do – instead of hiring an experienced design-build firm responsible for delivering on a budget. The airport didn’t just take 23 years, it came in at triple the cost too.
Credit: Muns, via Wikimedia Commons
The government taking the lead to manage the project is a costly reminder of East German-style planning. It’s almost as if David Hasselhof never stood atop the Berlin Wall belting out “Looking for Freedom” in 1989, on the precipice of East Germans finally gaining their freedom.
@Gary: DFW has not removed its people mover. It spent millions on a Skytrain system inside security, replacing a 1970s system outside security (indeed, outside the terminal) that was no longer useful in the new security environment. Interconnect between terminals has improved, not been removed.
Wrong facts and bad writing.
@L3 moving walkway on the D concourse
“But I think Baldanza and Kaplan miss something more fundamental about mistakes made in turning the old East Berlin Schoenefeld airport into the new gateway for Berlin: that the project was just badly managed by the local government there.”
Precisely this. Mismanaged by the inept and over-bureaucratized Berlin government at every stage
Highly recommend the podcast How To F#€k Up An Airport. Everything Gary said, and more. Come for the mismanagement, stay for the trains that ran for a decade to keep air moving.
Hey I got a good idea. Why not turn turn your healthcare and retirement security over to these boobs too.
The U.S. airports currently collect $4.50 as a passenger facility charge (PFC) from each passenger passing through the airport, not just originating but also connecting. This is essentially a tax and it is shown on the ticket price breakout. The airports also collect landing fees from the airlines, charge them rent for their space, and collect rent and often a percentage of receipts from the retailers, car rental firms. They often collect a fee from taxis and ride share as well. Lots of sources of revenue.
The airport operators are currently lobbying to increase the PFC up to $8.50 or $9 per passenger – that could mean $34-36 on a round-trip connecting itinerary. The airports don’t invest this money in a way that really benefits passengers – often they invest it to generate construction jobs and to create more retail and restaurant space instead of meeting passenger needs, and they often invest it in a way that would never pass economic justification, ie. $500 million to build a consolidated rental car center and then ongoing $10/rental to pay for shuttle busing, or $300 million to add restaurants that earn $15 million/year in rent
It didn’t really take 23 years to build. But it was built so poorly that much had to be undone and redone after completion so it sat idle for years.
David says:
November 28, 2020 at 12:15 pm
Hey I got a good idea. Why not turn turn your healthcare and retirement security over to these boobs too.
Huh?
David, one must assume that you’re from the United States, given your line of questioning, and quite frankly, grammar.
What does health care or retirement have to do with BER?
Do you mean health care like the US, where millions aren’t insured because of your ‘freedom’ not to pay premiums, or subscribe to a national health plan?
Or your ‘retirement’ in a Social Security system that has been underfunded for years because of tax giveaways to the wealthiest in society?
Please enlighten us as to which ‘boobs’ you are writing about, because I think they might be right home in the good ole US of A.
> Lufthansa said from the start they had no intention of hubbing in Berlin, so why build an airport optimized as a connecting hub?
This is a curios claim when there was AirBerlin which used to have a hub at Berlin Tegel and was very much looking forward to having the better facilities at BER. Tegel was never built to support a hub operation and Air Berlin suffered from that.
I don’t know how the comments turned to hating America, healthcare and retirement but I think the point is that government projects, even in Germany, can go off the rails.
Here is a good example. https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dave-helling/article245881295.html
Sorry but saw a YouTube video that was better then this. Missed a lot of points here like contractor fraud, etc. The designer did not like retail stores so he did not put space in for them.
B.P. says:
Or your ‘retirement’ in a Social Security system that has been underfunded for years because of tax giveaways to the wealthiest in society?
You misunderstand both Social Security and the funding for it. Social Security was never designed to be the primary retirement system for anyone. People are expected to have pension plans and/or self-directed retirement plans. Social Security is a safety net.
Social Security’s financial challenges have nothing to do with “tax giveaways”. The funding for Social Security has never been cut. The problem with giveaways is that the government has often given away increased benefits (increased benefits, COLA’s, reduced retirement ages) without a means to pay for them, as well as demographic changes that have increased the number of recipients faster than the number of taxpayers.
My daughter lived in Berlin for 10 years. Most residents didn’t want the new airport to open because Tegel was so close to the city, and Berlin Brandenburg was about an hour outside Berlin. It was like getting to JFK on a bad traffic day. I was sorry that one couldn’t fly nonstop from NY to Berlin except on United, once they took over Continental, and I would never fly on United, and Air Berlin, for awhile, but I wouldnt’ fly on that airline either. I got quite used to flying BA and either changing planes or having a few days in London before going on to Berlin.
I have seen in Germany that if they start any project of construction, it takes long, long and unexpected long time to complete. They are so lazy people and play with ot of paper work..
Moving sidewalks were removed in Orlando MCO as well. Stupidest thing I’ve ever seen that airport do. Now it’s just hoards of people sitting around on furniture and in the middle of the walkway blocking people rushing to the opposite terminals. Thank goodness it’s not as huge as some other major airports but definitely made the entire airport worse!.
Such a nice article. I would rather fly to Frankfurt airport from US. Then rent a car from airport and drive to Berlin.